Meet Gabriella Baron from Italy

School: Comprehensive Institute of Marostica

Subject and Grade Taught: Secondary school level the age of the students is between eleven and thirteen.

Years Teaching: 20

Years in Amgen Teach Community: 1

Participation in Amgen Teach Programme: National training and DLA

"The methodology IBSE goes deep and makes students discover that the motivation to learn comes from the satisfaction of having learned and understood something significantly.

I applied this methodology in first and second class. The results were better in first class because the pupils are left to drive to this new approach to science. The boys are put into play, have begun to do with interest and commitment, they have not waited for just the targets of the teacher.

In the second class they have struggled to be protagonists of their knowledge. The curiosity has grown with time.

In class before I made investigations in particular on how to find the exact middle of a bottle without using any instrument but only a marker. The students divided into groups responded first individually and then compared their answers by choosing one to experience.

Conduct a scientific investigation requires that students take possession of many skills. The ability to observe, to ask questions, make predictions, to design surveys, to analyze data and to support claims with experimental evidence.

In inquiry-based learning the development of understanding stems from curiosity about a phenomenon or event that is new to the learners and raises questions that grab their attention. Inquiry leads to knowledge of the particular objects or phenomena investigated, but more importantly, it helps to build broad concepts that have wide explanatory power. It also engenders reflection on the thinking processes and learning strategies that are necessary for continued learning throughout life.

In order to gain access to students' thinking, it is useful to express questions in terms of what students think. The ‘Open' questions, asking for students to respond in their own words are also more likely to elicit information about what they know and understand than questions where students choose between given answers. These are open to guessing and clues given by the words used in the options.

The students observe a real world object or a phenomenon and experiment with it. Pupils argue and reason, pooling and discussing their ideas and results, and building on their knowledge. Activities are organized in sequence for learning in stages. Continuity of activities and teaching methods throughout the entire period of schooling.

At the local level, scientific partners support class work by making their skills and knowledge available. Teachers are key players in the renewal of science education. Being part of a network allows them to improve the quality of their teaching and supports their motivation.

Inquiry-based science learning sees students learning through inquiry, using skills employed by scientists such as raising questions, collecting data, reasoning, reviewing evidence, drawing conclusions and discussing results. When students learn through inquiry they can develop scientific knowledge and they can also learn about inquiry, including the processes of science and how to construct reliable, valid and accurate investigations.

A student's understanding about inquiry is more difficult to assess than other areas of the curriculum, due to both its practical nature and the importance of thinking and reasoning processes.

I must bring students to deeply understand what they are learning, and not simply learn to repeat content and information. In using this methodology continuously students learn a method and apply it with more confidence.

I think is very important inductive thinking and making hypothesis; constucting explanotory models from evidence. Designing and understanding experiments deductive thinking with making a model.

I teach math and science in middle School in Italy (age 11-13). I am member of the program Science Inquirendo Discere SID ( Veneto) that aims at implementing and improving the inquiry Based Science Education in Italy in collaborative effort by the National Association of Natural Science Teachers (ANISN) and Accademia Nazionale dei Lincei.

In our SID workgroup the teachers who attended the training become trainers for new colleagues by presenting the activities. I contributed to the training of primary school teachers with activities entitled Arctic and Antarctica. I created a new topic on the balance both teachers of primary and secondary schools.

I think I will participate in the next DLA because I participated in previous events and I found them interesting and full of new ideas. These activities are some good opportunities to share materials and opinions."

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